"Do you have to leave?" Lloyd whined.

Lyra laughed. This was the fifth time he'd said this, and her answer was always the same. "I'll be back as soon as Skylor and I get everything sorted out."

They'd stayed up the entire night, celebrating and tending to wounds, and Lyra felt dead. Her entire body was just a stone. She had no idea how she'd stayed on her feet for that long.

"At least take my number or something," Lloyd begged. "It's--"

"Real subtle, Lloyd," Kai yelled from the Bounty's kitchen. Uproarious laughter broke out. Nya, Jay, Zane, and Cole were in there with him, finishing their breakfast.

Lyra rolled her eyes at his antics. Her face felt warm, though. "I don't have a cell phone, but we have a landline connected to each restaurant."

"YOU DON'T HAVE A PHONE?" Nya ran out of the kitchen, Jay right behind her. "HOW HAVE YOU SURVIVED THIS LONG?"

"Chen let me go on his laptop for an hour or so per week?" Lyra offered. "Generally, it was for art inspiration, but--"

"One hour per week?" Cole's jaw dropped. 

"In this day and age, that's almost unheard of," Zane said, striding out the door behind the rest of the ninja.

Lyra sighed. "Yes, I couldn't go on YouTube as a child, so sad. Now, I really have to go--"

"I'm meeting up with you soon," Nya announced. "We gotta get you a phone."

Lyra blinked. "Okay. As I was saying--"

"Lyra, what's taking so long?" Skylor yelled from outside the Bounty. "I thought you said you'd take one second? It's been five minutes!"

"Coming!" Lyra called. "Lloyd, what was your number again?"

Jay, Kai, and Cole snickered as Lloyd's face reddened. "Uh...5555-5555-0100."

"Perfect! Easy to remember. I'll be at the Central noodlehouse. Anyways, I think Skylor is about to abandon me, so goodbye!"

She turned on her heel and jumped off the side of the ship before anyone could stop her again, knowing she had minimal time before she crashed and fell asleep.

She summoned her dragon as she free-fell. Skylor manifested her own orange beast and they took off, riding toward the city that was about to become their new home.

~*~

"Hey, Marissa!" Lyra called to the general manager as the bell above the door rang, showing that she and Skylor had walked in.

"Well, if it isn't my two favourite employers!" Marissa grinned, turning around to face them and putting a hand on her hip. She was a tall, burly woman with curly brown hair and two red streaks in the front. They accented her warm brown skin beautifully. "Congrats on the promotion!"

"Thanks," Skylor said, smiling. "We just wanted to come and check in at our busiest restaurant before going to court with all the legal stuff."

"Well, everything's going smoothly. I trust that, after learning the new owners helped save the country, we'll see a spike in popularity, yeah?" Marissa asked. "Right now, we're about to start the day. You two look dead tired, though. We still have those empty booths you slept in two weeks ago, if ya want 'em."

Lyra and Skylor looked at each other, silently deciding to go to the court later. They followed Marissa to the back room, closing the door, turning the light off, and crawling into separate booths. Within moments, they were out.

~*~

Riiiiiing!

Lyra banged her head on the table as she tried to get up. "Ow," she muttered, rolling off the bench and lying in a heap of blankets on the ground.

Skylor copied her, also covered in blankets. Marissa must've put them on the sisters when they were asleep.

Riiiiiing!

It was the telephone in the corner of the room. Lyra groaned and stretched, then slowly got up and picked it up. "Hello. Chen's Noodle House, how may I help you?"

"Hi, Lyra!" Nya greeted. "How's everything going with all the legal stuff?"

Lyra rubbed her eyelids. "We haven't started yet." She took the receiver off her mouth for a second. "It's Nya," she told Skylor.

"Oh, so have you gone back to the island to get anything, then?"

"Not yet."

"What have you done, then?"

"Slept," Lyra yawned.

"For 20 hours?" Nya yelled.

Sounds about right.

"Apparently. Can I go back to bed now?" she asked.

"No! Where did you even sleep?"

"The restaurant."

"Just...on the floor?" Lyra could hear the exasperation in Nya's voice.

"No. In a separate room, on the benches."

Nya sighed. "You guys need to get your shit together."

"Yeah, you're probably right. We should go do that. Goodnigh--I mean, good-bye!" Lyra hung up on her. She turned to Skylor and raised an eyebrow. "Wanna go back to sleep?"

Skylor yawned and stretched her arms out wide. "I don't think I can sleep again," she admitted. "May as well go do stuff."

The two found their emergency clothes stash they'd left there a while back and changed into them. They'd taken showers at the Bounty the night before, but changing their clothes made them feel actually clean.

Lyra found the First-Aid kit in the kitchen, then knelt down and re-bandaged her shins. "Ready to see if there's a will?"

"I was born ready."

~*~

As it turns out, there was not a will. As it also turns out, the government loved Lyra, recognizing her as the girl who saved the city alongside Lloyd and Garmadon. They helped the sisters claim all their fathers' possessions within a day. It was kind of scary how easily they twisted the law and found loopholes to do what they wanted. Lyra was glad she was on their side. Lawyers were terrifying.

Lyra and Skylor now co-owned an entire business, along with an island. They also had a shared bank account with vast amounts of money, plus multiple plots of land where the restaurants stood.

"What are we gonna do with the island?" Skylor wondered as the two flew toward said island.

"We should fix all the damages done to it before we decide anything," Lyra said. "And ask all the Kabuki if they want to leave, since Chen forced some of them to stay. And offer them all jobs at our noodle houses if they can't find other places."

She wasn't quite prepared to say good-bye to Sakura and Jalin. She wished they could just stay with her forever, but that era of Lyra's life was coming to an end. Within a few months, she wouldn't even be living with Skylor anymore, no matter how scary that thought was.

As they neared the island, Lyra's dragon tucked its wings and dove toward the ocean, stopping at the last second and smacking its tail into the water. Drops went flying, soaking Skylor in seawater.

"You little--" Skylor started, but Lyra had already flown away, laughing.

~*~

All the Kabuki were gathered in the Arena Palace, bidding their farewells to each other. Everyone had jumped at the opportunity to leave. Skylor and Lyra had to hire a few ferrymen to be able to carry everyone to Ninjago.

"I'm going to miss you." Lyra hugged Sakura and Jalin. They were both wearing their black hair down for what seemed like the first time in years. They were wearing some clothes Skylor and Lyra found at the back of their closets, as all the ex-servants had owned were Kabuki kimonos. "You're always welcome to visit us."

Sakura smiled, her brown eyes twinkling. "I believe we'll take you up on that offer. We just need to sort things out with our families first."

Jalin nodded. "Don't forget about us."

"We would never," Skylor promised. In a louder voice, she announced, "I thank you all for your service here and I am once again so sorry for what my father did. If anyone has any further questions, feel free to ask."

When no one asked anything, Skylor nodded. "I'm gonna go see if the ferries are here yet," she told Lyra.

Lyra nodded, then watched her sister make her way through the crowd.

"Lyra?" Jalin asked. Lyra hummed in response, so she continued. "Can you promise me that you won't forget to take care of yourself, no matter how distracting your ninja are? We'll no longer be there all the time to help when you're panicking, and--"

"I promise." 

"Even if the Green Ninja--" Sakura started.

"Don't even go there." Lyra blew a strand of hair away from her face. "There's nothing going on between us."

Jalin snickered. "There's more tension in between you two than--"

"Than who?" Lyra put a hand on her hip. "You two? Don't think I haven't noticed--"

Just then, the front doors opened. Skylor stood at the front of the room, a wide smile stretched across her lips. "The ferries are here. The one with blue accents will take you to Stiix, while the one with red accents will take you to Ninjago City. Does everyone understand?" She waited until every person nodded. "Alright. Now, good-bye, and good luck on whatever you choose to do next!"

The room was a flurry of activity as the ex-Kabuki rushed to grab their bags and board the ferry. They each said good-bye to Skylor and Lyra, hugging them quickly and some giving them their numbers before running away. Sakura and Jalin were the last to exit the room. Lyra followed the pair, not really sure what to do.

The two ferries were fairly small, nothing compared to Chen's old one. Lyra didn't particularly care, though. She knew that it'd fit the ex-Kabuki and would safely carry them back home, and that was what mattered.

Lyra hugged her friends again. "I'm gonna miss you two."

"You already said that," Sakura reminded her, laughing. "We'll see each other soon."

Lyra grabbed each of their hands with one of hers. "You're right."

"Stay safe, alright?" Skylor asked.

"We'll always take care of each other," Sakura swore, grabbing onto Jalin's arm and smiling at her.

"The ferries are gonna leave soon," Jalin pointed out, gently untangling her brown hand from Lyra's and taking Sakura's hand. "We should board quickly."

Lyra nodded. Her traitorous eyes began to pool with tears. "Stay safe, please."

"We should be telling you to stay safe," Sakura pointed out, a hand on her hip. "No more almost dying. Leave all the saving-the-world business to your boyfriend."

"Lloyd's not my boyfriend." Lyra's face reddened. 

"Interesting you knew who I was talking about, though," she winked.

"Good-bye, Lyra!" Jalin rushed as the ferrymen announced that it was the last chance for boarding. "See you soon!"

"Bye!" Sakura said as Jalin dragged her up the blue staircase.

"Bye," Lyra murmured. 

A few moment later, the ferries were off, signaling their departure with blasts from their foghorns. 

Lyra and Skylor watched until they could no longer see them. They were each crying, Skylor's crystal clear and Lyra's pale green.

"Well," Lyra said, swinging her arms at her side, "let's find out just how much damage Chen caused."

~*~

Lyra frowned at her backpacks and suitcase. She felt like she needed much more than that.

Oh, shoot, clothes! 

She grabbed a small suitcase and threw as many items of clothing in it as possible. When she was done, she stood up with a grin. That's more like it.

Skylor knocked on the door, then walked in the purple room before Lyra could answer. "You ready?"

Lyra nodded. "Honestly, I thought I'd be more sad about leaving. Now, I'm just sad about how much it costs to fix this place."

"We can easily afford it, though."

The construction would take over a year and made the place uninhabitable until it was done. Lyra had requested a few renovations that weren't just repairs, which certainly did not make the process any shorter. They also needed to destroy the caves that held the crystals that could steal Elemental powers, which cost several hundred thousand dollars.

"Yeah, we can." Lyra's eyes widened as she checked her bedside alarm clock. "I think Nya wants to meet us before sunset, and we're already an hour behind."

The two had agreed to let her online shop for cell phones with them. Lyra was kind of excited, since she'd never gone shopping before.

"Did you take every single thing out of your room?" Skylor smirked, pointing to the bags of luggage on the ground.

"It only took one suitcase and a backpack for that, actually," Lyra informed her. "The other one is just clothes and stuff like a toothbrush. And then all the rest are the contents of each of my studio rooms."

"Oh, by the way," Skylor handed her a Jade Blade, "here. Just in case you ever wanna duel wield."

Lyra grinned as she took it. She had, in fact, been planning on grabbing one, and had already added another side to her sheath for it. "Thanks. Now, are you ready to start our new life?"

She asked it like she was simply asking if Skylor was ready to play Hide-and-Seek. It kind of felt like that. Lyra was still in shock from everything that'd happened recently. She was sure she'd be terrified as soon as the reality of her situation set in, but it hadn't yet, so she was fine.

"Of course."

~*~

Nya waved the sisters down. She was standing on the sidewalk by the Central noodle house, where they'd agreed to meet.

Lyra checked her watch. 5:45. They were only 15 minutes late.

"Sorry we took so long," Skylor said, jumping off her dragon. "Someone took five hours to pack."

"She acts like she didn't take six." Lyra rolled her eyes as her own dragon disappeared. "Anyways, hi."

"Hi!" Nya greeted. "And, don't worry, I just got here, too. I have my laptop here." She shouldered her gray laptop case.

She was wearing a deep blue crop top with black jeans. Lyra, meanwhile, was wearing some of her only clean clothes--pale purple leggings and a crocheted green sweater. Her ginger hair looked almost caramel in the lighting. Skylor had on her usual orange hoodie and black sweatpants.

"We have a private room inside the restaurant, if you wanna go there," Skylor offered.

"Or..." Nya started, "Lloyd told me you guys haven't really explored much of the city."

"Yeah, we weren't allowed to leave the noodle house," Lyra explained, shrugging. "The only other places I've been to are a few of the other noodle houses, plus the mall."

"Which one?" Nya asked.

"There's more than one?"

"You know what--nevermind. I'll take you to more later," Nya promised. There's a park nearby, if you wanna go there."

Lyra and Skylor's eyes sparkled as they fervently nodded. They ran inside the restaurant, dropping off their bags and telling Marissa where they'd be, then darted back outside.

When strolling there, they talked about whatever they felt like. Skylor and Lyra kept on getting distracted by buildings, though, so their conversations never went anywhere.

The grass beside the paved sidewalk whispered sweet nothings to the soft breeze. Lyra gazed around in wonder at all the people they passed. There were so many. Birds chirped nearby, and a few house lights turned off. A car or two drove past.

I wonder what's going on in that person's life? Lyra glanced at a young teenager, probably thirteen or so, who was playing basketball in front of their house. Her gaze shifted to an elderly woman, who was smiling fondly at a few kids running in front of her. Or hers? This is so cool.

"We're here!" Nya announced.

"This is it?" Lyra gasped.

It was breathtaking. There were lines of trees surrounding concrete paths. Street lamps, which had just turned on, were placed intermittently beside the paths, shining light on the metal benches nearby. In the middle, there was a fountain. A few lily pads floated around. On top of it, there was a grand, moss-covered statue of...Zane?

"Why's there a statue of Zane?" Skylor wondered aloud.

"We built it after he sacrificed himself for Ninjago," Nya reminded them.

Lyra had forgotten about that. How had she ever thought the ninja were evil, when they were so obviously not?

They sat down at a picnic table nearby. Nya was in the middle, with Lyra on her right side and Skylor on her left. They watched as she opened the silver laptop and went onto a site called "Ninjazon." Apparently, it was known for "Delivering items from A-Z to anywhere in Ninjago."

"See, these are the different types of phones," Nya explained. "I personally have an mPhone, but a lot of people have BorgPhones. There's this debate over which one is better. I dunno. It's weird."

"What's the difference?" Lyra asked.

"Only real difference is the creators. BorgPhones are made by Borg Industries. mPhones, meanwhile, are made by Cyrus Borg's sister, Madeline. They mostly created the different companies for a friendly competition, though now they're the most popular tech companies in the world because of their rivalry. Don't go telling others that, though." Nya put a finger to her lips in a shh gesture. "A lot of people think they hate each other. They let them believe that for the publicity."

"Society's weird," Lyra decided.

"Cyrus and Madeline are actually awesome, though," Nya said. "Especially Madeline and her partner, Java. They focus on helping people with disabilities. They were the lead developers for the hearing aids most commonly used now. They take their profit from their other company and use it to make their assistive devices as affordable as possible. What I'd give to be able to work with them..."

After a bit of searching, Lyra and Skylor both purchased cell phones, laptops, and smart watches. Lyra also got herself headphones, speakers, a tripod, a music stand, and a camera.

"They should all be delivered within the next three days," Nya informed them, closing her laptop Lyra noted the stickers on them. Some had song lyrics on them, while others had inspirational quotes or memes. One had 'fre sha voca do' written on an avocado, confusing her. "Where are you guys staying?"

"The restaurant," Skylor told her, getting up and stretching.

"Oh, I didn't know there was a bedroom in there."

"There isn't," Lyra grimaced.

"Wait, so you just...sleep on the floor?" the samurai frowned.

"We had this conversation earlier," Lyra reminded her. "I think. I dunno, when you called I was extremely tired."

"No, we sleep on the booths," Skylor explained, doing a few jumping jacks. "Just until we find a nice apartment."

"We're checking out a few tomorrow," Lyra said, joining Skylor in her stretching. "They look pretty nice."

"What's your budget?" 

"Uh...$3,000 per month, approximately," Skylor said, thinking for a moment. "If we have to go over, we will, but we're hoping not to, because the construction on the island cost a lot."

"Well--"

Beeeeep! Beeeep!

The three girls looked at Nya's watch as it glowed red and beeped.

"Dang it, the ninja need back up," Nya sighed. "Sorry, I gotta go--"

"Need a ride?" Lyra offered.

"That'd be awesome," Nya admitted. "I need to get to the Samurai X cave ASAP."

"I'll go back to the restaurant. I'm too tired to fly," Skylor told them, waving good-bye and turning around. "Stay safe," she called over her shoulder before jogging away.

Maybe a normal sister would be worried about Lyra, but the two were not normal sisters. Skylor knew Lyra would be fine flying, just as Lyra knew Skylor would be okay walking back alone. She still had faint control over Kai's fire powers, which had been the longest Elemental Powers to stick with her by far.

Lyra crossed her arms in an X motion then uncrossed them, particles of power streaming from her hands. The purple dust swirled until it turned into her dragon. Nya got on behind her.

"Hold tight. I'm gonna test how fast I can go."

Nya didn't have time to respond before the dragon stretched its wings out, leapt into the air, and took off. All she could do was yell out directions. The purple dragon instinctively swooped into air currents, propelling them forward even faster. In no time, they were at the cave.

"Can you find your way back?" Nya asked, jumping into a huge red mechanical suit that was at least five times Lyra's size.

She paused. "Um..."

Forgot to consider that before coming here, she realized. Whoops.

"Nevermind, you can just go with me," she decided. "If you want to, that is. Just don't blame me if anything goes haywire."

"Fuck yeah." Lyra grinned.

Nya activated her jetpack and Lyra summoned her dragon again. They flew beside each other, going in a direction Lyra hadn't gone before.

"Where are we going?" she asked, but the wind stole her voice.

"What?"

Lyra had to repeat herself a few times before Nya heard her.

"Oh, Jamanakai Village. It's only three minutes away from here. A prisoner from Kryptarium escaped. We're just putting her back where she belongs."

Lyra grinned as she spotted the village on the horizon. "Anything particular about her that made the ninja need backup?"

"Well, it was only Cole and Lloyd who went on the mission. Plus, she's an Elemental Master of Air," Nya explained. 

"Ohh. Yeah, that's pretty powerful."

Chen had told Lyra about the former Master of Air. He and his cousin, the Master of Wind, were elusive Elemental Masters that remained neutral during the Serpentine War. While the Master of Wind could create tornadoes and the like, the Master of Air was able to change the air pressure of an area. He was apparently capable of taking the breath out of a person's lungs. There were even tales of him solidifying the air around. 

The new Master of Air would certainly be able to put up a fight. Lyra grinned at the thought.

Wow, I really have changed, she thought. Who knew I'd like fighting so much?

"Anyways, you ready?" Nya asked as they dove toward the village.

"Of course." 

Lyra made her dragon dissolve and landed smoothly on an orange roof. Nya went ahead, charging straight into the battle.

Lyra leapt onto a nearby house then onto the ground, bending her knees to absorb the shock. She crept toward the sounds of a battle, ready to unsheathe her daggers. She peeked her head around the corner of the house and analyzed the situation.

Lloyd and Cole were back-to-back. A figure in gray was whirling around them quickly. Every once in a while, one of the ninja would fall to the ground with a yelp, but the other immediately used their powers to stop the Master of Air, who slowed down to concentrate every time she used her power. No one was able to attack the other without showing weakness that could easily be exploited. It was a true stalemate.

Meanwhile, Nya had gotten out of her mech, her suit still on, and was trying to catch the girl. She got close many times, but not close enough.

The second that Lyra stepped toward the battle, the figure whipped in her direction and caught her in a chokehold. Lyra felt the oxygen start to drain from her body and she coughed violently, which only spilled more air out.

Maybe I should've gone home with Skylor. Lyra wheezed, trying to intake oxygen.

"There we go," the convict said breezily. "You three surrender, or this bystander will die."

Lyra faintly recognized the woman, who had pale skin and black hair with silver streaks at the front. She was glaring at me in Kryptarium, she realized as she saw the scar on the girl's cheek. Oh, I remember now! The prison warden told me about her. She killed her family.

Lyra watched as Lloyd's face changed from shock to anger to pain to fear within a millisecond. He couldn't ask her what she was doing there, or the escaped prisoner would realize that he knew her and would threaten her even more.

Before any of the three came to a decision on what to do, Lyra decided for them. She crashed her head back into the Elemental Master's chin, wounding both of them. She felt the oxygen rush back into her lungs but didn't take a second to appreciate that as she drew her daggers and pointed them at the woman. 

The convict blinked, not taking her eyes off the blades.

"What was that about being a bystander?" Lyra smirked. "I think you just maybe misread the situation."

"You wouldn't hurt me," the gray lady hissed, eyeing the daggers. "Ninja would never seriously injure someone."

"Good thing I'm not a ninja, then."

Lyra lit up her hands and threw the particles into the woman's eyes, only stopping when she fell unconscious. She then straightened up and dusted off her leggings. "That was fun."

"Are you okay?" Lloyd crushed her in a hug, letting go before Lyra had even registered what happened. "Did she hurt you? Wait, what were you even doing here?"

"Hello to you, too," Lyra huffed. "And you're welcome for saving your ass." She sheathed her dagger and waved in Cole's direction. "Hey, Cole."

"Hi," he said with a smile.

"And, in response to your question, Nya needed a ride to the Samurai X cave, and I didn't know my way back, so I decided to go with her."

"That's dangerous!"

"So am I," Lyra pointed out. "And you. And Skylor. And Nya. And all the ninja. And her." She kicked the raven-haired prisoner's leg. "Danger is a part of life, especially as an Elemental Master."

Lloyd sighed. "But you can't go rushing into battle like that."

"And you're gonna tell me you and Cole didn't rush into this fight? That Nya didn't? You guys still would've been stuck fighting her until someone got tired," Lyra said, putting a hand on her hip.

"She's right, Lloyd," Nya called. Cole nodded in agreement.

"I know." Lloyd frowned. "Doesn't mean I like it."

"How about you guys go put her back in jail with extra-thick vengestone chains, and I'll head back to the city and sleep?" Lyra suggested. "Then we can all be happy."

Before anyone could argue, she hopped on her dragon. "Tell me when those packages arrive!" She called to Nya, flying away.

About two minutes later, Lyra realized she had no idea where she was going.

~*~

Eventually, Lyra found her way back. She immediately collapsed onto the booth and fell asleep. The next few days were spent searching for apartments. Just temporary, until they figured everything out with the business and Lyra could take up the ninja's previous offer. There was only one problem: nothing seemed right. Skylor was fine with anything, but Lyra wanted a mostly-soundproof room that could also work as a dance studio, and most places didn't have that. If they did, they were thousands of dollars above their budget. There was one that seemed absolutely perfect, and was super cheap, but Lyra's gut told her not to buy it, so they didn't. It just didn't seem like a home.

"You're too picky," Skylor whined as Lyra told another realtor over the phone that, sadly, their place wasn't what she'd had in mind.

"You're not picky enough. I'm just balancing you out." Lyra hung up the telephone.

"That's not how it works, Lyra."

Before Lyra could retort that yes, it was how it worked, Nya burst into the restaurant, a large bag full of boxes in hand. 

"The packages arrived!" she said in a lilting tone.

The three of them moved to the back. Lyra and Skylor opened their boxes, sorting out which ones were whose.

The purple-coloured case was Lyra's, of course, and the orange one was Skylor's. They'd gotten the same model of mPhone, so that didn't matter. Same thing with laptops, though they each immediately decorated theirs with different stickers so they'd be able to tell whose was whose. The smart watch with the gold band was claimed by Skylor, and Lyra happily took the silver one. She also took the camera, music stand, tripod, headphones, and speakers.

For the next few hours, Nya helped them set up their devices. She taught them how Bluetooth worked and made them download a few social media platforms, such as Chirp, Ninstagram, and Snapchat. They each downloaded YouTube and Spotify, too.

"Lloyd's number is 5555-5555-0100," Lyra remembered. "How do I add him?"

Nya hid a smirk--not very well, as Lyra noticed it immediately--and grabbed Lyra's phone. "Just like this," she showed her. 

"Thanks, Nya." Lyra grinned.

She sent Lloyd a very simple text. Skylor and Nya watched over her shoulder as she typed.

Lyra

Hi. It's Lyra. (delivered)

"What does delivered mean?" Skylor wondered.

"Oh, I forgot you guys don't know these things."

Nya proceeded to explain multiple terms and 'rules' to the sisters. Most of them Lyra understood, though some of them were confusing.

"So...on Snapchat specifically, you can't leave someone on opened, but you also can't snap them twice in a row?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Ok. One question: why?" Skylor muttered.

"It makes you seem desperate if you double-snap them, but it makes you seem not interested enough or even mad if you leave them on opened," Nya told them. She'd been very patient through the entire conversation. 

"That's just unnecessarily complicated," Lyra decided. 

"Welcome to the life of a teenager. None of us really use Snapchat, but it's a form of communication for lots of people our age, so we all have it. Anyways, have you guys found any potential apartments?" Nya questioned.

Lyra said, "Nope." 

At the same second, Skylor said, "Yep."

Nya chuckled. "Is that a 'maybe,' then?"

"Apparently I'm too picky, and Sky isn't picky enough," Lyra explained. "It's annoying."

Skylor rolled her eyes. "I'm this close to abandoning her on the side of the streets." She pinched her fingers together. "This close."

"You guys could stay with us, if you want," Nya offered. "We could always use more girls on the ship, and the ninja already adore you both."

"That'd be awesome," Lyra said as Skylor said, "Not a chance."

"We have a business to run," Skylor murmured. "A criminal empire to shut down. Then you can join them."

Lyra sighed. "I forgot about that. I hate that so much. There's too much math involved."

Skylor raised an eyebrow. "I was kidding. We have everything settled. I, for one, am ready to see what living without you is like. It'll definitely be quieter."

"Hey!" Lyra put a hand on her hip. "Wait...you're really okay if I go with them?"

She felt a surge of hope fill her chest. Living on a flying ship was the craziest thing in the world, yet she loved the idea much more than any of the apartments she'd looked at. This time, instead of her gut screaming at her not to live there, as it had with every apartment so far, it was screaming at her to accept the offer.

"Of course. As long as you tell me about every interaction you have with Lloyd," Skylor teased.

Nya giggled as Lyra failed to think of a good enough comeback.

"Whatever," Lyra finally said. She turned to Nya. "You guys are really fine with it?"

"Oh, 100%," Nya assured her. "We had an entire conversation about it. No one said a single thing against either of you coming."

Lyra wasn't surprised at either of their reactions. She and Skylor had talked extensively about the ninja already, so she'd been expecting her to say basically exactly what she did. The ninja, on the other hand, were just predictable.

"Perfect!" Lyra clasped her hands together. "So, when do I move in?"

She knew she should probably consider more apartments before completely changing her future, but she was too excited at the prospect of living on a flying ship, not to mention with Lloyd and Nya and the ninja.

She'd get to learn more about her powers. Wu could tell her about Lila.

"Right now, so we can surprise them?" Nya suggested. "We already have a room for you."

"That was...weirdly smart to have that prepared, for the ninja," Lyra deadpanned.

"No, it was my idea."

"Oh, that makes more sense." Lyra turned to her sister. "Where are you gonna live, though?"

"The first apartment we looked at. It's right by here, so I can just walk here every day, check in, and see if anyone else needs help." Skylor had obviously given this a lot of thought. 

"You sure? It seemed a bit--"

"Perfect for me," Skylor cut off. "Fairly small, but I can still train. That's all I really need."

"Well, let's grab our stuff, then."

~*~

Nya dusted her hands off. "All done!"

The three admired their handiwork. Skylor's room had all her stuff neatly put away, and a little workout area was stationed in the back corner. It'd only taken them five hours to get everything settled.

Lyra glanced at her sister, looking away when their eyes met. Neither of them wanted to say good-bye.

Nya, sensing this, mumbled something about the washroom before exiting and closing the door.

"Call everyday?" Skylor asked.

Lyra merely hugged her, channeling all her feelings into the gesture. Skylor hugged back.

"It's a new chapter in our lives," Lyra murmured softly. She scrunched her face up, pulling out of the hug. "Ew, that was cliché."

Skylor chuckled. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I s'pose I'll miss you, too," Lyra sighed. "I should get going now, though."

"Yeah."

Neither of them moved.

"Love you, Sky."

"Love you too."

"Don't get into any trouble, okay? I'd hate to have to save you."

And with that, Lyra turned and walked away, not trusting herself to not run back if she looked back at her sister.

The goodbye was short and nothing like it should've been, but that was fine with both Lyra and Skylor. They'd see each other soon.

Nya met her once she exited the apartment. "Hey, that seemed...difficult. You gonna be okay?"

Lyra wiped a stray purple tear away. "Yeah. This is all much easier than I expected, honestly. You'd think I'd be sadder about leaving my sister, but...I mean, I knew it was gonna happen soon. Chen had been talking about sending her to college soon, anyways. Plus, this feels right."

"It's fate," Nya murmured. 

Hiii. How are y'all?

Word count: 5.3k

QOTD: What's your dream job? 

A: Music therapist. I love both music and helping people, so when you put them together I'm bound to love that, too. 

Please do comment and vote because it really does help with motivation and motivation=frequent updates

Remember to drink water, eat food, and get an appropriate amount of sleep for your age please<3

~Aspen